A Delco firefighter was sentenced to house arrest for calling a woman the N-word during an argument
John Romano told a judge he was frustrated that he was being "prosecuted over words." He was convicted of ethnic intimidation, terroristic threats, and related crimes earlier this year.
A former assistant volunteer fire chief in Delaware County was sentenced Monday to 23 months of restrictive probation for calling a Black woman the N-word during what he described as a “road-rage encounter” in 2024.
John Romano, 48, must serve the first seven months of his sentence on house arrest, according to a ruling from Judge Margaret Amoroso. He also must undergo anger management and racial sensitivity training, and have no further contact with the victim.
Amoroso convicted Romano earlier this year of ethnic intimidation, terroristic threats, and related crimes during a bench trial.
During Monday’s proceeding, First Assistant District Attorney Kristin Kemp asked the judge to send Romano to jail for up to two years.
“I don’t doubt he’s a racist,” the judge said. “But being a racist, in and of itself, is not a crime.”
Amoroso said she was focusing more on threats Romano made to the victim, which included taking a picture of her license plate and telling her he would “take care” of her at her home.
Romano, the former assistant fire chief of the Sharon Hill Fire Company, encountered the woman on Hook Road in Darby Township in November 2024, while he was using a forklift to unload Christmas trees. His forklift was blocking the road, the woman testified at trial, causing a traffic jam of irritated drivers who were honking their horns.
After the car in front of hers squeezed through a small gap near the forklift, the woman said, Romano got out of the forklift, “rushed” to the passenger-Romano then called her the N-word. He later told Darby Township officers who responded to her 911 call that she was “a wild animal” and said he was “tired of dealing with them,” according to body camera footage played in court.
In a statement to the judge, Romano said Monday that he never intended to threaten the driver, and expressed frustration that he was “being prosecuted over words.” He took a photo of her license plate, he said, because she struck his forklift and he was afraid she would drive off without exchanging insurance information.
Kemp, the prosecutor, said Monday that Romano had demonstrated a pattern of violent, bullying behavior throughout his life, including an arrest in 2006 for ethnic intimidation in a similar incident and a 2013 gun-possession conviction for which he spent two years in state prison.
“This isn’t someone who had a bad day and mouthed off about his beliefs,” Kemp said. “This is someone who seeks others out to put them in fear, whether with a weapon or his hands.”
Romano’s attorney, Christopher Boggs, said the case had been blown out of proportion.
“I have never understood the level of attention this case received,” he said.
Unlike other people charged with ethnic intimidation, Romano had made no effort to “hunt or stalk” someone, Boggs said, drawing comparisons to crosses burned on Black families’ lawns.
Two people close to Romano spoke on his behalf, saying, despite his strong personality, he is dedicated to his community through his volunteer fire fighting, as well as other service he’s provided during floods and snow storms.
But Amoroso made her feelings clear.
“Maybe you’re a great guy to the people who don’t piss you off,” she told Romano. “But you’re a bully, and that’s what you did: You threatened [the victim] for pissing you off.”
